Senate committee wants to hear from budding Indigenous leaders
Selected youth will be invited to attend a senate committee on Aboriginal peoples this fall
Members of the Senate standing committee on Aboriginal peoples during a 2018 tour of the Western Arctic. (Photo courtesy of the Senate)
A group of Canadian senators wants to hear how Indigenous youth are being leaders in their communities.
The Senate’s standing committee on Aboriginal peoples is asking for 500-word essays that describe that work through the lens of reconciliation, as part of its Voices of Youth Indigenous Leaders 2022 project.
The essays are meant to commemorate the first anniversary of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30 by shining a spotlight on the “strengths of present-day Indigenous communities and their inspirational young leaders.”
The committee “wants to hear how Indigenous youth interpret truth and reconciliation, and how they as young leaders are advancing these themes,” according to the website for the initiative.
Indigenous youth ages 18 to 35 are invited to write about their experiences. The committee will select a number of writers who participate to attend an official committee meeting in September.
Youth can share their stories in select Indigenous languages, including Inuktitut.
The deadline for submissions is July 24. Interested applicants can make a submission on the senate website.
Speaking our language, learning our culture is how they lead. Using what we were taught by our elders so when they pass our only culture only way of life isnt threaten by emerging society.